Pirate Town Name Generator

Havens, free ports and rogue harbours for pirate maps

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Generate pirate town names for the havens, free ports and smugglers' harbours of your map: Tortuga-style real ports, English gallows-and-grog names, Spanish, French and Dutch colonial toponyms, and one-word rogue settlements for D&D, Sea of Thieves and pirate fiction.

About pirate town names

The real pirate havens of the Golden Age had borrowed names. Tortuga is Spanish for turtle, Port Royal was a respectable English colony before the buccaneers took it over, Nassau was named for a Dutch prince, and Île Sainte-Marie off Madagascar was a French trading post. The lawless reputation came afterward. That is why the most convincing pirate town names are ordinary colonial toponyms, Port This or Saint That or Isla de Something, that sound slightly wrong for the people who actually live there: Saint Scurvy, Port Perdition, Puerto Sangre, Baie des Voleurs.

The second register is the name the pirates gave a place themselves, usually a blunt description of what happens there. Gallows, gibbets, careening beaches, rum and wrecks dominate: Gallows Cove, The Careenage, Rotgut Landing, Wrecker's Reach, Hangman's Shelf. English coastal settlements also compress into single words (Saltwick, Brinehaven, Gallowstown), and a surprising number of real Caribbean places are just a famous captain with a possessive, like Teach's Hole on Ocracoke.

When naming a haven for a map or campaign, decide who founded it first. A captured Spanish fort keeps its Spanish name with an English nickname; a beach settlement gets a descriptive English one; a free republic of pirates picks something grand and slightly ridiculous like Libertalia.

How to choose pirate town names

  • Pick the founder before the name: a captured colonial port keeps a Spanish, French or Dutch name (Puerto Muerto, Havre-Noir, Vrijhaven), while a beach settlement gets a blunt English one (Rotgut Landing).
  • Use the geography word that matches the feature: a careening beach is a Careenage or Landing, a sheltered mooring is a Hole or Anchorage, a reef-guarded lagoon is a Key or Cay.
  • Give the town a locals' nickname alongside its official name; Port Royal was called the wickedest city on earth, and your Port Mercy can be known to everyone as The Sink.
  • Name at least one landmark after a hanging, because every real pirate port had a gallows on the waterfront (Gallows Point at Port Royal, Execution Dock in London).
  • For a pirate republic or free port, choose something grand and slightly self-important, in the manner of Libertalia or Commonwealth of Rogues.

Frequently asked questions

What were real pirate towns called?

The famous ones were Tortuga off Hispaniola, Port Royal in Jamaica, Nassau on New Providence, Île Sainte-Marie off Madagascar, Barataria near New Orleans, Ocracoke in North Carolina and the Barbary republic of Salé. Libertalia was a legendary pirate colony that probably never existed. All of these appear in the list.

Are these names suitable for a D&D or Sea of Thieves map?

Yes. The list mixes historical-style colonial names, descriptive English haven names, one-word settlements like Saltwick or Marrowgate, and more fantastical entries such as Kraken's Maw and Sleeping Kraken, so you can match the tone of your setting.

Why are some names in Spanish, French or Dutch?

Because most real pirate havens began as Spanish, French, Dutch or Portuguese colonial ports and kept their names after the pirates moved in. Puerto Sangre, Baie des Voleurs and Galgenhoek give a Caribbean or Indian Ocean haven the right colonial texture.

How do I name a pirate town versus a normal port town?

A normal port is named for trade, a saint or a founder. A pirate town is named for what happens there: gallows, careening, rum, wrecks and the captains who run it. Take a respectable name and give it a dark twist, like Saint Misery or Port Hangdog.

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All 500 pirate town names

This is the complete list the generator above draws its random batches from, sorted A to Z and grouped by first letter.

Plain text, one name per line.

A: 11 names

  • Absolution Bay
  • Ambergris Cay
  • Ambush Cove
  • Amnesty Anchorage
  • Anse aux Pirates
  • Anse des Pendus
  • Anse-Sanglante
  • Anvilmouth
  • Armistice Anchorage
  • Arrack Cove
  • Ashmoor

B: 48 names

  • Backstab Landing
  • Bahía de los Perdidos
  • Bahía del Cuervo
  • Baía do Enforcado
  • Baie des Voleurs
  • Baleen Cove
  • Bandit's Anchorage
  • Barataria
  • Barnacle Bottom
  • Belaying Pin Bay
  • Belladonna Harbour
  • Bent Cutlass
  • Betrayal Bay
  • Bilge Rat Reach
  • Bilgewater
  • Black Flag Anchorage
  • Black Sal's Harbour
  • Black Sands
  • Blackbeard's Teeth
  • Blackjack Landing
  • Blackmarrow
  • Blackwater Landing
  • Blackwater Shoals
  • Bleeding Rock
  • Blind Bartholomew's
  • Bloodwater Cove
  • Boca del Diablo
  • Bonebarrow
  • Bonfire Strand
  • Bonny's Landing
  • Bosun's Rest
  • Bottle Cay
  • Bounty Bight
  • Brandy Cove
  • Brandywine Landing
  • Brethren's Landing
  • Brigand Bay
  • Brimstone Harbour
  • Brimstone Strand
  • Brinegut
  • Brinehaven
  • Broadside Bay
  • Broken Compass
  • Broken Head
  • Broken Truce Reach
  • Brotherhood Bay
  • Bumbo Bay
  • Burnt Chapel

C: 45 names

  • Cabin Boy Cove
  • Cabo Sangrento
  • Cabo Traidor
  • Cain's Harbour
  • Caleta Roja
  • Calico Bay
  • Cane Spirit Point
  • Cannonball Cove
  • Cap'n Tully's Rest
  • Cap-Perdu
  • Captain's Table
  • Cardsharp Cay
  • Careening Point
  • Carpenter's Reach
  • Cartographer's Cove
  • Castaway Isle
  • Cat o' Nine Cove
  • Caulker's Wharf
  • Caulkerstown
  • Chance Harbour
  • Charity's Ruin
  • Cheat's Reach
  • Cinder Cay
  • Cinderhaven
  • Clemency Cove
  • Commonwealth of Rogues
  • Conchmouth
  • Congress of Thieves
  • Cooper's Cay
  • Corpsewater
  • Corsair's Gullet
  • Corsair's Haven
  • Court of Gulls
  • Cracked Bell
  • Cracked Keel Bay
  • Cragwick
  • Crooked Jib
  • Crooked Moorings
  • Crooked Pete's Point
  • Crying Siren
  • Cutlass Bay
  • Cutlass Corner
  • Cutpurse Corner
  • Cutthroat Alley
  • Cutthroat Harbour

D: 26 names

  • Dagger Cove
  • Dagger's Tooth
  • Damnation Strand
  • Davy's Doorstep
  • Dead Calm Bay
  • Dead Man's Anchorage
  • Dead Man's Wharf
  • Dead-Eye Dick's Drop
  • Deadlight Harbour
  • Deadman's Drift
  • Deadwater Inlet
  • Derelict Harbour
  • Deserter's Landing
  • Dicetown
  • Dock of Sorrows
  • Dogfish Landing
  • Doldrums Cay
  • Double Cross Cove
  • Doubloon Reef
  • Driftwood Harbour
  • Drop Gate
  • Drowned Rock
  • Drowned Sailor
  • Drunkard's Bay
  • Duivelskaap
  • Dunlow

E: 6 names

  • El Refugio
  • Emberwick
  • Enseada Perdida
  • Ensenada Negra
  • Every's Rest
  • Execution Dock

F: 34 names

  • Faith's Wreck
  • False Colours Cay
  • Fat Tom's Wharf
  • Fence's Row
  • Fenwrack
  • Fiddler's Landing
  • Final Reckoning
  • First Mate's Folly
  • Flint's Hollow
  • Flintlock Point
  • Flotsam Landing
  • Footpad Ferry
  • Forger's Wharf
  • Forgewater
  • Forgotten Harbour
  • Fort Folly
  • Fort Gallant's Ruin
  • Fort Lastditch
  • Fort Mischief
  • Fort Nothing
  • Fort Pickle
  • Fort Rotten
  • Fort Rumbellow
  • Fort Sorrow
  • Fort Vanity
  • Fort-Liberté
  • Fortune's Teeth
  • Forty Lashes
  • Foxglove Landing
  • Free Haven of Dunlow
  • Free Port of Skerry
  • Free Town of Marrowgate
  • Freebooter's Quay
  • Freeport

G: 25 names

  • Galgenhoek
  • Gallows Cove
  • Gallowsmouth
  • Gallowstown
  • Gamble's Landing
  • Gaptooth Gully
  • Gentleman Jim's Quay
  • Ghost Reef
  • Gibbet Island
  • Gibbet Rock
  • Gibbetsby
  • Goldport
  • Grapeshot Cay
  • Greater Gibbet
  • Greybeard Hollow
  • Grog Harbour
  • Grog Row
  • Grogsby
  • Gull Key
  • Gullscar
  • Gunnel's Reach
  • Gunner's Gut
  • Gunpowder Harbour
  • Gunpowder Row
  • Gunwale Cay

H: 26 names

  • Half-Hanged Hattie's Cove
  • Halfhanged Harry's
  • Halfmoon Harbour
  • Halfpenny Bay
  • Hammerfall Key
  • Hammerhead Reach
  • Hanged Man's Hollow
  • Hanging Tree Harbour
  • Hangman's Bluff
  • Hangman's Shelf
  • Hangman's Supper
  • Hangtown
  • Hardtack Cay
  • Hatchet Cove
  • Havre-Noir
  • Hawkins Point
  • Hazard Point
  • Helmsman's Haven
  • Highwayman's Harbour
  • Hollow Church
  • Hollowmere
  • Hope's Folly
  • Hornigold Harbour
  • Hulk Haven
  • Hull Splitter Reef
  • Hurricane Hole

I: 6 names

  • Île Sainte-Marie
  • Île-aux-Crânes
  • Ilha do Tesouro
  • Ironwood Harbour
  • Isla Calavera
  • Isla de los Ladrones

J: 5 names

  • Jawbone Cove
  • Jetsam Cove
  • Jolly Roger Bay
  • Jonah's Rest
  • Judas Point

K: 6 names

  • Keelhaul Harbour
  • Keelhauled Cay
  • Kelpmouth
  • Kidd's Cove
  • Kill Devil Cay
  • Kraken's Maw

L: 22 names

  • Lafitte's Cay
  • Lantern Key
  • Lanternwick
  • Las Horcas
  • Last Haven
  • Last Meal Landing
  • Laughing Gull
  • Lazarus Landing
  • Leaky Hull
  • Lee Shore Bay
  • Liar's Dice Cove
  • Libertalia
  • Limbo Landing
  • Little Nassau
  • Little Tortuga
  • Lobscouse Landing
  • Long Meg's Key
  • Lookout's Perch
  • Lost Moorings
  • Lower Scurvy
  • Lowther's Landing
  • Luck's Run

M: 20 names

  • Mad Meg's Moorings
  • Maelstrom Moorings
  • Mangrove Moorings
  • Marlin Reach
  • Marlinspike Landing
  • Marooner's Isle
  • Marooner's Rest
  • Marrow Cay
  • Marrowdeep
  • Marrowgate
  • Mercy's End
  • Mermaid's Cove
  • Molasses Cove
  • Moonshine Cay
  • Morgan's Anchorage
  • Morne-aux-Flibustiers
  • Mother Carey's Landing
  • Musket Bay
  • Mutineer's Cove
  • Mutiny Row

N: 11 names

  • Nassau
  • Navigator's Nook
  • New Gallows
  • New Perdition
  • New Providence
  • New Tortuga
  • Nightshade Bay
  • Nine Fathom Bay
  • Nine Fathoms
  • No Quarter Cove
  • Noose Bend

O: 8 names

  • Oakum Reach
  • Ocracoke
  • Old Careen
  • Old Nick's Hollow
  • Old Scratch's Landing
  • One-Eyed Jack's Landing
  • Oubliette Point
  • Outlaw Cove

P: 51 names

  • Pardon Harbour
  • Parley Point
  • Parliament of Rooks
  • Parrot Bay
  • Pearlhaven
  • Peg Molly's Cove
  • Pegleg Crossing
  • Penance Point
  • Perdition Reach
  • Petit-Goâve
  • Petit-Saint-Rhum
  • Pewterhaven
  • Pickpocket Quay
  • Pieces of Eight
  • Pillage Point
  • Pistol Cay
  • Pitchmere
  • Plum Duff Reach
  • Plunderton
  • Pointe-Gibet
  • Ponta da Forca
  • Port Dauphin
  • Port Fathom
  • Port Gallowglass
  • Port Hangdog
  • Port Keelhaul
  • Port Lantern
  • Port Lucky
  • Port Mercy
  • Port Mutiny
  • Port Nowhere
  • Port Parley
  • Port Perdition
  • Port Quarrel
  • Port Ransom
  • Port Royal
  • Port Scarlet
  • Port Scupper
  • Port Vanish
  • Port Wretch
  • Port-au-Sabre
  • Port-de-Grâce
  • Porto dos Corsários
  • Powder Monkey Landing
  • Privateer's Rest
  • Puerto Muerto
  • Puerto Pícaro
  • Puerto Sangre
  • Punta del Ahorcado
  • Purgatory Bay
  • Pyreport

Q: 2 names

  • Quartermaster's Quay
  • Quiet Quill's Quay

R: 29 names

  • Rackham's Rest
  • Ransack Reach
  • Ranter Bay
  • Raven Head
  • Razor Reach
  • Rebel's Rest
  • Red Flag Landing
  • Red Ned's Reach
  • Redbeard's Watering Hole
  • Redemption Cay
  • Redoubt Harbour
  • Renegade Point
  • Reprieve Reach
  • Republic of Gull Rock
  • Rigger's Rock
  • Riptide Cay
  • Rogue's Haven
  • Rope Walk
  • Rope's End
  • Rotgut Landing
  • Rotten Row
  • Roversbaai
  • Rum Runner's Bay
  • Rumbellow
  • Rumbullion Reach
  • Rumgut
  • Rumhold
  • Rusted Anchor
  • Rusty Key

S: 62 names

  • Sailcloth Strand
  • Sailmaker's Wharf
  • Saint Gallows
  • Saint Misery
  • Saint Plunder
  • Saint Scurvy
  • Salé
  • Sally Port
  • Salmagundi Cay
  • Salt Annie's Strand
  • Salt Beef Harbour
  • Saltbeard's Rest
  • Saltcreek
  • Saltgibbet
  • Saltmarrow
  • Saltpan
  • Saltpetre Cove
  • Saltwick
  • Salvation Shoals
  • San Ladrón
  • Sandbar Landing
  • Sawtooth Cay
  • Scaffold Point
  • Scarface Sam's Shoals
  • Scarrow
  • Schelmenhoek
  • Screaming Cay
  • Scrimshaw Landing
  • Scurvyport
  • Scurvyshank
  • Scuttlebutt

S, continued

  • Scuttlebutt Cay
  • Sea Dog Shoals
  • Seven Cannons
  • Shark's Head
  • Sharktooth Cove
  • Shipbreaker Reef
  • Shiver Reach
  • Silver's Rest
  • Sink of Iniquity
  • Sinner's Sound
  • Siren Bay
  • Siren's Rock
  • Skerry Town
  • Skillygalee Harbour
  • Sleeping Kraken
  • Smokehole Cay
  • Smugglers' Notch
  • Spanish Key
  • Spermaceti Shoals
  • Spindrift Cove
  • Split Mast
  • Spyglass Hill
  • Squall Point
  • Stockade Cove
  • Storm Head
  • Storm Shelter
  • Stumpy's Landing
  • Sugarloaf Harbour
  • Sunken Chapel
  • Surgeon's Cove
  • Swindler's Haven

T: 37 names

  • Tallow Point
  • Tallowick
  • Tar Pit Cove
  • Tarbottom
  • Teach's Hole
  • Tempest Cove
  • Tew's Sound
  • The Bight
  • The Careen
  • The Careenage
  • The Cut
  • The Flats
  • The Gut
  • The Hole
  • The Ledge
  • The Narrows
  • The Roads
  • The Rookery
  • The Sink
  • The Throat
  • The Tumble
  • The Wash
  • Thieves' Haven
  • Thieves' Quay
  • Three Gibbets
  • Tidewrack Landing
  • Toothless Annie's
  • Tortuga
  • Trade Wind Landing
  • Traitor's Reach
  • Trapdoor Landing
  • Trou-du-Forban
  • Truce Harbour
  • Turncoat Harbour
  • Turtle Cay
  • Two Anchors
  • Tyburn Cove

U: 2 names

  • Uncharted Reach
  • Undertow Landing

V: 2 names

  • Vane's Point
  • Vrijhaven

W: 15 names

  • Wager Bay
  • Waking Kraken
  • Walk the Plank Wharf
  • Weeping Widow
  • Weevil Reach
  • Whalebone Landing
  • Whirlpool Wharf
  • Whispering Reef
  • Whistling Will's Wharf
  • Widow's Key
  • Widow's Wharf
  • Wrackmouth
  • Wrecker's Reach
  • Wreckers' Row
  • Wrecklight Bay

Z: 1 name

  • Zwartwater